Transmission Line

OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A 12-year-old Central Florida boy shot a high-powered rifle and hit a 69,000-volt transmission line, causing almost 6,000 customers in Lynne, Silver Springs Shores, Silver Springs and Ocklawaha to lose service for several hours. The Ocala Star-Banner reports that the Clay Electric Co-op said the outage began at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and lasted for about five hours. The Marion County Sheriff's Office has classified the incident as accidental, since the boy claimed he was shooting the rifle at tree limbs and was not targeting the transmission line.

OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A 12-year-old Central Florida boy shot a high-powered rifle and hit a 69,000-volt transmission line, causing almost 6,000 customers in Lynne, Silver Springs Shores, Silver Springs and Ocklawaha to lose service for several hours. The Ocala Star-Banner reports that the Clay Electric Co-op said the outage began at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and lasted for about five hours. The Marion County Sheriff's Office has classified the incident as accidental, since the boy claimed he was shooting the rifle at tree limbs and was not targeting the transmission line.

THUMBS DOWN. Plans by Hydro-Quebec to build a transmission line over the St. Lawrence River has received the thumbs down from a provincial environmental agency. The overhead transmission line was to be part of a $1.76 billion project to carry power to the New England Power Pool from James Bay. It attracted opposition from such notables as former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, who thought it would detract from the historic riverside villages.

The Northern Will County Water Agency has decided to allow more time for the area's water company to consider its $34 million offer to purchase the Bedford Park transmission line, which carries Lake Michigan water to several southwest suburbs. The decision came earlier this month at the agency's first public meeting since it was officially formed by leaders from five area suburbs earlier this year in an effort to reduce water rates. The agency's members — Homer Glen , Bolingbrook , Lemont , Romeoville and Woodridge — say rates are way too high in towns where Illinois American Water is the supplier.

A tree that had grown too close to a transmission line in Idaho triggered a power outage that affected 2 million homes and businesses in 15 Western states this month, investigators said Sunday. The Western Systems Coordinating Council, an electricity industry group, said the July 2 outage began when electricity from a 345,000-volt transmission line jumped to the nearby tree, causing a short circuit. The outage caused scattered power cuts lasting from a few minutes to several hours across an area stretching from Southern California to Canada and as far east as Texas.

The explosive growth expected in west Orange County in the coming years will demand more electricity. But supplying that electricity requires a new transmission line, those thick electrical conduits that often hang alongside major highways and are supported by chunky concrete poles. Florida Power has announced plans to build a new transmission line from its substation at Hemple Avenue and Florida's Turnpike nine miles southwest to a substation near Avalon and Malcolm roads. Another substation, near Lake Lutz, also is planned.

Power has returned to most of the 5,400 customers who were left in the dark this morning in east Orange County after a major transmission line broke on University Boulevard. A spokeswoman for Progress Energy said power has returned to all but a few hundred customers. Those customers are expected to regain power in the next several hours. The outage also affected traffic lights along University Boulevard, but power has been restored. The outage happened at about 2 a.m. Progress Energy said electricity may not get restored until 10 a.m. The Florida Highway Patrol is reporting that traffic lights are out on University Boulevard between Metric Boulevard and Goldenrod Road.

Homer Glen trustees have backpedaled on initial plans to authorize the issuance of $50 million in bonds, approving only half that amount while keeping plans to try to acquire the Bedford Park water transmission line. They authorized a $25 million issuance—with a sale of $17 million in bonds—at a packed meeting late last month. The $17 million in bonds will pay for the village's roughly $2,583,000 share in improvements to 159th Street in a $70 million-plus Illinois Department of Transportation project, and help resolve flooding issues, village officials said.

The South Buffalo Township Supervisors will decide next month whether to allow the township's first horizontal Marcellus Shale gas wells. The township planning commission Thursday recommended that the supervisors grant a conditional use permit that XTO Energy needs to drill up to three wells on property off of West Scenic Drive. However, commission members expressed concern about the condition of the narrow, gravel road between the drilling site and where trucks would exit onto Iron Bridge Road.

Homer Glen officials are holding off again until Tuesday to vote on whether to authorize issuing $50 million in bonds, a portion of which would fund acquiring a transmission line that brings Lake Michigan water to the southwest suburbs. If the village board approves the issuance, Homer Glen officials plan to sell only $25 million of the bonds initially. This would include $8.8 million toward acquiring the Illinois American Water Co.'s Bedford Park water transmission line that carries Lake Michigan water, and millions to fund 159th Street improvements, completing unfinished subdivisions and extending the Fiddyment Creek sanitary sewer line, officials said.

Homer Glen trustees have backpedaled on initial plans to authorize the issuance of $50 million in bonds, approving only half that amount while keeping plans to try to acquire the Bedford Park water transmission line. They authorized a $25 million issuance—with a sale of $17 million in bonds—at a packed meeting late last month. The $17 million in bonds will pay for the village's roughly $2,583,000 share in improvements to 159th Street in a $70 million-plus Illinois Department of Transportation project, and help resolve flooding issues, village officials said.

Homer Glen trustees this week backpedaled on initial plans to authorize the issuance of $50 million in bonds, approving a more frugal sum of only half that amount while keeping plans to try to acquire the Bedford Park water transmission line. "I was never in favor of authorizing $50 million or selling 25 million," Trustee Margaret Sabo said at Tuesday's village board meeting of the original amount that trustees were scheduled to vote on. A vote had been tabled twice at previous meetings.

Homer Glen officials are holding off again until Tuesday to vote on whether to authorize issuing $50 million in bonds, a portion of which would fund acquiring a transmission line that brings Lake Michigan water to the southwest suburbs. If the village board approves the issuance, Homer Glen officials plan to sell only $25 million of the bonds initially. This would include $8.8 million toward acquiring the Illinois American Water Co.'s Bedford Park water transmission line that carries Lake Michigan water, and millions to fund 159th Street improvements, completing unfinished subdivisions and extending the Fiddyment Creek sanitary sewer line, officials said.

While many details of a proposed 90,000-acre conservation easement on Louis Bacon's Blanca Ranch remain pending, the proposal, if approved by federal authorities, could strengthen his position in the fight against a proposed transmission line. Bacon has spent three years battling a proposal to build what was once estimated as a $180 million transmission line from Comanche to the San Luis Valley. The corridors for the proposed power line cross the Blanca Ranch, which combined with the neighboring Trinchera Ranch, form the 172,000-acre property Bacon bought from the Forbes family for $175 million in 2007.

The South Buffalo Township Supervisors will decide next month whether to allow the township's first horizontal Marcellus Shale gas wells. The township planning commission Thursday recommended that the supervisors grant a conditional use permit that XTO Energy needs to drill up to three wells on property off of West Scenic Drive. However, commission members expressed concern about the condition of the narrow, gravel road between the drilling site and where trucks would exit onto Iron Bridge Road.

A big utility player from Phoenix has stepped into the hotly contested dispute over a proposed power line for the Rosemont Mine outside Tucson. The Salt River Project, which has provided electric power in Central Arizona for more than a century, wants the Arizona Corporation Commission to reverse an earlier decision to accept evidence from line opponents on the proposed copper mine's environmental impacts. SRP's attorney wrote the commission last week that the utility is concerned that this case could set a precedent, making future utility power line siting more confusing, costly and difficult.

Orange County commissioners opted for compromise Tuesday to keep the county from going to court against Florida Power Corp. over the placement of power lines along John Young Parkway.Last year, Florida Power sought the county's permission to build a 69,000-volt transmission line - using 80-foot poles - on a portion of John Young Parkway near Osceola County.The county responded with a temporary ban on new power lines and a proposed permanent ban on new power lines along nearly 20 county roads, including the parkway.

Florida Power Corp.'s march across Lake County with a new high-voltage line is nearly finished, except for a costly change of plans near Leesburg.The $11 million 230,000-volt line has been built along a path between Sorrento and west of Leesburg that, for much of its route, follows State Road 44. Concrete or steel poles that are as tall as 135 feet have been placed every 600 feet, dwarfing everything in their path.About a mile from U.S. 441, Florida Power ran into something it is not allowed to tower over -- Leesburg airport.

Power has returned to most of the 5,400 customers who were left in the dark this morning in east Orange County after a major transmission line broke on University Boulevard. A spokeswoman for Progress Energy said power has returned to all but a few hundred customers. Those customers are expected to regain power in the next several hours. The outage also affected traffic lights along University Boulevard, but power has been restored. The outage happened at about 2 a.m. Progress Energy said electricity may not get restored until 10 a.m. The Florida Highway Patrol is reporting that traffic lights are out on University Boulevard between Metric Boulevard and Goldenrod Road.

Today, a driver crossing the St. Johns River approaching Osteen in rural Volusia County is welcomed by an endless prairie of reed grasses and wildflowers to the east. But as soon as next year, the prairie view from the State Road 415 bridge could be fragmented by a collection of 80-foot-tall concrete poles strung with 115,000-volt lines serving electric customers in Osteen and Deltona. Florida Power & Light says that's the only safe place it can put the poles, which at more than 4 feet around will be much thicker than the trunks of cypress and red maple trees that line the edge of the prairie.